Calyx (1986)
by Prescriptives

Calyx opens with a blast of candied tropical fruit that reminds me of nothing so much as a big, fluorescent colored lollipop, and were it not for the scent’s high repute I might have dismissed it right away. The chemical fruit note persists, but softens over time to merge with a very smooth, milky green floral accord with the olfactory texture of a luxury hand cream. (Which given the Prescriptives cosmetic brand, isn’t so surprising.) That many lotions and shampoos are similarly scented does Calyx no favors, and it’s hard for me to shake the impression that I’m wearing a high-end bath product. Sillage and projection are limited from the start, and on me Calyx fades within two hours to a very soft fruit custard skin scent. Calyx ultimately strikes me as a pleasant scent but in the final analysis I don’t think it’s anything special. Menard's L'Eau de Ryokuei does the green floral thing much better (albeit more expensively), and for something a bit weightier and entirely sugar free, there's Estee Lauder's Beyond Paradise.

An aside: I wonder if Calyx has inspired Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s recent Celadon, which being drier and less conventionally fruity, is an easier fragrance for me to wear.

Green, grassy, but not so fresh, rather sultry, "thick", "waxy" - it possess the same waxiness as Eden Cacharel, smells "80-ties". I dont detect grapefruits. Calyx is single note of Spathiphyllum (something like red apple + wet grass + Juicy Fruits bubble gum).

I passed by this perfume without noticing it for years because I never look for fragrance at the Prescriptives counter. Rather, I am obsessesed with their excellent line of liquid foundation almost guaranteed to match any skin color. There sat Calyx. I finally sprayed it on, and it was wonderful. It rushed through some grassy, green notes and settled into a big white peach and apricot aroma that was delicious. Ordinarily I'm not a fruit scent wearer, but I fell in love with this. Big, round, sweet-tart aromatic fruits in a sparkling, green, mossy base. Excellent.

I loved this fragrance intensely! It's now hard to buy in Australia. Grassy, spritely, sharply sweet. It suited me on days that I was busy having fun.

Total strangers and mostly men used to compliment me on Calyx when I wore it regularly, in the 90s -- surprising, as it doesn't seem like such an alluring scent. I still wear it now sometimes, in the summer, but there is something very harsh about the way it starts out that makes me hesitate.

I stopped wearing this more than a decade ago and just found it again... I rather like it-- it's refreshing and doesn't get stuck inthe nose like a lot of the floraly fragrances do.. It's accessible and casual...